


Trouble Grows On Your Head

by TabbyChat



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, CaptainPuffy is Tubbo’s Aunt, DadSchlatt, Gen, Ghost Possession, Quackity gets possessed yo, Summoning Circles, Tubbo has Horns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28230246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TabbyChat/pseuds/TabbyChat
Summary: After Tubbo’s seventeenth birthday, nubs start to grow from his hair. Nubs turn to spikes turn to full-out horns, and he seeks Puffy for advice on what to do about them.(Dadschlatt, HEAVY angst)DISCLAIMER- this is about the characters that the content creators on the SMP have made! it in no way should be read about their real selves. if this work makes ANYONE uncomfortable or pushes ANY boundaries i will delete it immediately!!!
Relationships: Cara | CaptainPuffy & Jschlatt, Cara | CaptainPuffy & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Jschlatt & Toby Smith | Tubbo, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 196





	Trouble Grows On Your Head

On the morning of Tubbo’s seventeenth birthday, he woke up with a pain from two sides of his forehead. Two stubby horns were poking out, much to Tubbo’s shock, because as far as he knew, he was all the way human! But when current events hit him like a truck, he had to put his concerns aside, ignoring the slowly-growing trouble on his head.

Finally, when things had settled, the horns had grown so much that they were curled around his ears- a distressing development, to be sure. Tubbo made up his mind to ask the only sheep he knew what was happening.

“Puffy, please help! I have horns growing from my head- and I’m 100 percent human!”

“Kid... do you know who your parents are?”

“I’m adopted. My dad found me in a box by the side of the road.”

“Oh no... oh no...”

“Do you know something? Puffy, please be honest. Did you know someone? My mom or my dad or somebody?”

She placed her face between her hands.

“Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes, of course!”

“I knew your father.”

“What?! What was he like?! How did you know him?”

“Calm down, I’m getting to it.”

“He was... young. And reckless. Loved too much, got his heart broken. I knew that when he showed up on my doorstep with you in tow, saying ‘Cara, please, I don’t have anyone left, take care of the little guy for me?’, but I relented. Gave him money for food and a baby blanket and sent him on his way. I should have done more, should have let him stay here, but I didn’t know just how bad he was doing.

He was a mess, Tubbo. He could barely pay to keep you alive, a college freshman studying business (a fat load of good that did him), saddled with student debt in off campus housing. Eventually, when he got kicked out, he showed up at my door with you for the second time.

I only saw you for a day. And you were the most precious little thing, all baby noises and gurgles, rolling on my decidedly not-child-safe carpet. That was also the last time. After I took care of you, your dad picked you up, saying it would be better, that he’d found a solution. He looked so sad when he said that. 

When I asked again about you, months later, he just broke down. Told me everything, about how he left you on the street in a box, just the baby blanket I had given him and a dog tray of food. The poor man didn’t even know if you were alive.”

Tubbo sat in shock.

“I sail out here, hearing rumors of a mad god’s playland, somewhere with bows and swords and magical creatures living free. Imagine my shock when I find that kid, all grown up, leading his own nation!”

“Puffy… Puffy. I don’t… Do... did I ever see him? Did I know him? I...”

Puffy rubbed Tubbo on the back as he leaned over on the bench, silently shaking.

“Who was he?”

“I don’t know if I should tell you. You wouldn’t be happy.”

“JUST TELL ME! I don’t care if it hurts me, I want to know!”

“Schlatt.”

“Why are you mentioning him?”

“Tubbo, Schlatt was your father.”

“No... no, you’re joking. You’re messing with me. Puffy, you’re fucking with me. I’m not that stupid. He wasn’t my dad, and he never will be. Honestly, I’m appalled! You take someone and crack a horrid joke like that in their moment of weakness? Reall-“

“I’m telling the truth.”

He stood up and ran away.

—.—.—.—.—

Schlatt. Tubbo didn’t know he was capable of loving anyone, really. He killed him!! Schlatt killed him!! If Schlatt was his father, then... he killed his son! (Well, that wouldn’t have been the first time that happened.) But did Schlatt even remember- no, even recognize him?

Phil said he gave him the nickname Tubbo, after all, and that was all anyone called him nowadays. He hadn’t even started growing the horns until… Schlatt died. He was elected President. Celebrated a birthday, and the morning after, woke up with nubs on his head. They only grew after that. Through Tommy’s exile and death, Fundy and Niki’s secession, travellers coming and going… 

Tubbo looked in the mirror and he was the spitting image of a dead man. All he needed were the hollow eyes (he was halfway there already) and the stupid fucking mutton chops. Stumbling back from the mirror, Tubbo fell on the floor.

He didn’t- wasn’t- but they said “sins of the father, sins of the son.” Could he really call Schlatt his father? After Phil had raised him... not his entire life. He had to talk to Puffy.

—.—.—.—.—

“Hey!”

She could see him outside the Tar-Gay, jumping up and down, waving his arms like nobody’s business.

“PUFFY! HEY!!! I’M SORRY!!!”

“WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

Oh no. He was running towards the window. She couldn’t avoid the conversation anymore.

“PuffyIheardyouknewaboutghostsummoning-“

“Slow down!”

“Puffy, I heard you knew about ghost summoning.”

“Yes...? I do, but you have to have a body part.”

“Do you have any of Schlatt’s body parts?”

“Schlatt’s parts? Come on, kid, I have no idea where those are!”

“Wait... Quackity did do that thing at the funeral...”

“What are you talking about?”

“When he did his speech! Quackity went up, did his speech, and ate Schlatt’s heart. As far as I know, he still has it.”

“God, that’s disgusting... but that could work.”

—.—.—.—.—

Tubbo went to look for Quackity, finding him on L’Manberg near the failed execution chamber.

“Hey, good old Mr. President!! What do you need me for?”

“I need you to sit in the middle of a circle for a minute and get some water poured on you.”

“What’ll you give me?”

“A diamond.”

“Sweet, basically-free diamonds! I’m in!”

Tubbo lead Quackity around the back of the Tar-Gay, to the improptu summoning site that Puffy had set up.

“Alright, Quackity, sit right... here!”

“Tubbo! On my call, pour the potion. 3... 2... 1...”

SPLASH!

A cloud of mist poured off of the circle, blinding everyone who was standing around it. When the mist cleared, there was a distinct silhouette…

“Sup.”

There was J. Schlatt... but not quite? His horns were poking through a familiar beanie, and he was wearing a... he was in Quackity’s clothes. Now that Tubbo looked closer, he was... his hair was black, he was short... it’s almost like he wasn’t Schlatt at all, just possessing Quackity!

Wait, that’s it! Since the heart was within Quackity, Schlatt’s ghost was summoned right beside it, and he was able to worm his way into possessing the man in the circle.

“Wait, Tubbo? ...Cara? What are you two doing here?”

Schlatt looked at Tubbo’s head, and recoiled in shock.

“There’s no way. No, this has to be fake. Some sort of afterlife hallucination, a dream, whatever! Yeah, that’s it! A dream! I had a little too much liquor or some shit after a long workout, now I’m in my ex’s body looking at my sister and... some kid with the family horns.”

“Wait, your SISTER?!”

“Yeah, Puffy’s my sister. Didn’t she tell you that?”

“Well, I never really got around to that part...”

“So Puffy. Give me the rundown on the dream lore. What’s the imaginary situation here?”

“Schlatt. This is real. You’re dead. We summoned you here. And Tubbo’s your son, the one you left in a box all those years ago.”

“...what?”

Schlatt cracked a toothy grin.

“Come on, you’re joking.”

It didn’t mask the fear in his eyes as Tubbo took a deep breath.

“What, are you worried about what you did coming back to bite you? Leaving a kid in a box by the side of a road- ever think about how that would affect them? I got picked up pretty quickly, but there was no guarantee. You left me to the wolves, Schlatt! You left me to die.”

“Tubbo, he-“

“I don’t care! There could have been a better way! What was keeping him from keeping me? Money issues, was that it?”

“You don’t understand, he was being-“

“Why don’t you hear it from the goat’s mouth?”

The two, stopping their arguing, turned to Schlatt, slumped in the middle of the still-glowing circle.

“Tubbo, I- I couldn’t take care of myself, for a while. I was reckless. Just a kid. Only just turned eighteen, out of a shit relationship with some bitch who foisted you on me, leaving me to rot. To be honest, at first, I hated you. You’d ruined my life, tore apart everything I had. But not for long.

It’s a funny thing, love. People just think of the love you feel for a partner, but the love a dad has for his son? Man, that shit is powerful. Just a few days and I was ready to fight tooth and nail to keep you safe. 

You kept me awake at night, though. Got me thrown out of our apartment. No kids, they said. Not that you remember any of this, of course. 

But still, you were strapped to my back, swaddled in that funny little bee blanket Cara gave me, sleeping- well- like a baby, all while I was trudging through New York streets covered in slush, a Yankees hat shoved over my horns so I didn’t get my ass beat…

I may have been too young, but you were even younger. Growing up with a shithead like me for a dad wouldn’t’ve done you any good, Tubs. Would’ve given you no future. So I had to find you a better life somehow. 

Decisions were made with the flip of a coin. Adoption centers in New York have laws against little ‘devil babies’, I learned. All out of options, I took a final flip. Keep you and risk you and me both starving to death? Or send you off so that you could at least have a chance at survival?

You can guess what it landed on.

So I left that chapter of my life behind. I’d put you as a regret in my mind, filed you off as probably dead, but I could never forget you.

In case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t recognize you. I didn’t give you the name Tubbo, and for the whole time I was alive, you were decidedly hornless. That’s that! That’s it! All the excuses I can give.”

Suddenly, Schlatt let out a small gasp of surprise. A tear was running down his cheek. And Tubbo was rushing towards him, arms held wide open. He crumpled in the dead man’s arms. Puffy watched on in fondness as the father and son were reunited, for the first and maybe last time.

“I’m sorry...”

“You’re dead, no time for apologies,” Tubbo said quietly, head pushed into Schlatt’s shoulder. The silent hug went on until the red light pouring from the circle flickered and disappeared.

“What the fuck? Why are you hugging me?”

Quackity pushed Tubbo off of him, before looking at his face.

“...were you crying?”

“Maybe.”

“I don’t remember anything. In the circle, potion got splashed on me, next thing I know, I’m being hugged by you, with fucking HOLES IN MY BEANIE! WHAT THE FUCK! MY FUCKING BEANIE IS RUINED!!!”

“Quackity, please, calm down! Do you want an explanation or not?”

“No explanation! Just get me a new beanie!”

With that, Quackity stormed off in a huff, leaving Tubbo and Puffy alone behind the Tar-Gay.

“Did that make you feel any better, kid?”

“Yeah. Can I... give you a hug?”

“Sure. Whatever helps.”

Finally, it all came to an end. Sunsets, a broken beanie cast aside. A young president with slow-growing horns. And a ghost, unseen by everyone else, watching his son with pride.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in the span of two days. Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> EDIT- THANK YOU SO MUCH for the over 100 kudos!!! :D


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